The Latest On Alfonso Cuaron’s “Gravity”

Any day there’s news on a new Alfonso Cuaron film, it’s a grand day. Cuaron is a filmmaker intent on pushing the medium forward while keeping his films grounded in a sense of reality. Cuaron isn’t a filmmaker keen on dumbin’ it down for mass consumption and we should celebrate and champion any film he makes — like Gravity.

Gravity penned by Cuaron, Jonas Cuaron (the director’s son), Rodrigo Garcia, and Andrew Alexander. It’s a space survival tale about a lone survivor’s desperate return to Earth to see her daughter. Early on in the project’s history, Angelina Jolie was attached to play the woman, but she left the project and Robert Downey Jr became attached as the film went from Universal to Warner Bros.

The fine folks over at The Playlist have discovered a virtual treasure chest of details for Gravity from the FX house, Framestore.

According to Framestore, this project may be their most ambitious since James Cameron’s Avatar as the film will be:

60% CG feature animation with the balance being hybrid CG and live action elements.

In addition, since it’s space, everything will be set in zero gravity and everything in the frame will be floating.

Perhaps the biggest nugget Framestore let loose from their description of their involvement with Gravity? Cuaron’s now trademark tracking shot. If you thought the long takes in Children Of Men were something, apparently the opening twenty minute tracking shot will take it to the next level.

Regarding casting, the Framestore piece mentions Robert Downey Jr’s involvement with the film and a recent nugget from Deadline suggested that Downey will work on this project first then leave to work on Sherlock Holmes 2 and eventually come back to wrap everything up. However, Framestore still suggestions the film is about a woman returning to earth, which means Downey could be playing an unspecified supporting role. Could Angelina Jolie be back on the project? A brief check of IMDB Pro seems to suggest that she’s available this summer, but maybe Cuaron found another a female lead. Perhaps Charlize Theron, but she’s going to be in Mad Max 4/Fury Road. Maybe it’s going to be a secret.

Either way, let’s get excited that we’re one step closer to a new Alfonso Cuaron film and Emmanuel Lubezki will be the cinematographer!

Like this post? Grab our feed for your iGoogle page or RSS reader or whatever. Or read our posts in our daily e-mail.